From the Other Side of the Rift
by Ayiana89
Summary: The Doctor and Martha land in Cardiff after the Torchwood team has asked them for help. Some unknown creatures have come through the Rift and endanger the city. Ten/Martha
1. Chapter 1

**AN: **This story is a continuation of my stories_ "Attack of the Ladurians",__ "By Your Side" _and_ "The Collector" _but you don't need to have read any of them to understand this story.

It is a crossover with Torchwood but it will be mainly about the Doctor Who characters. That's why I didn't put this into the crossover section.

A big thank you to Persiflage for beta-reading.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Doctor Who

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**Chapter 1**

Martha pushed the door of the TARDIS open and walked inside, the Doctor following close after her. They had just returned from answering a distress signal they had picked up on their way to an ice planet where they had intended to go ice skating. The signal had come from a space ship in the 58th century that had been severely damaged and was close to being pulled into a black hole. Martha had helped a number of crew members who had been injured, while the Doctor had repaired the ship and had pulled it away from the black hole with his TARDIS. The ship was now back on its way to Earth and its crew was recovering. It had been a long and tiring day, but Martha had enjoyed the opportunity to help others the way she had always wanted to. Travelling with the Doctor was wonderful but she sometimes missed being a doctor.

Martha walked towards the jump seat and slumped down onto it.

"So, do you want to go ice skating now?" the Doctor asked her from the other side of the console where he leaned against one of the coral columns and smiled brightly at her.

"I feel more like taking a long nice bath and watching a movie for the rest of the day," Martha answered. She thought that after all the work they had done today it was their right to relax for a couple of hours, but of course the Doctor still wanted to go ice skating. Martha wasn't sure if he even knew what the word 'relaxation' meant.

"Oh come on, it will be fun. We can take that bath later." He walked towards her and sat down on the jump seat next to her. Then he reached out and took her hand while giving her his best puppy look she always found hard to resist.

"I'll even show you how to pilot the TARDIS."

"Really, you'll let me fly your ship?" Martha asked excitedly. She had always wanted to pilot the ancient ship but she had never asked because she knew how much the ship meant to the Doctor. It was all he had left from his home world.

"Sure, what do you say?"  
"Alright, but we won't stay to long. I'm already tired," Martha finally relented. The Doctor grinned brightly at her and stood up, pulling her with him.

For the next hour the Doctor explained to her the purpose of every lever and button on the console. Martha got constantly more excited in the prospect of actually flying the ancient ship, and she felt the tiredness slowly leaving her. When she finally knew every function of the console she began to fly the TARDIS slowly through the vortex while the Doctor stood behind her looking over her shoulder and correcting her sometimes. A few minutes later Martha carefully landed the ship on the ice planet next to a frozen lake.

"Well done!" the Doctor said. "I'm proud of you!"

Martha turned around to look at him with a bright smile on her face. "I think I flew her actually better than you do. It was a much smoother flight than usual."

"Much more boring I'd say," the Doctor said. He put his arms around her waist and pulled her close. His lips touched hers in a soft kiss. After a moment he pulled away and grinned at her again. "Let's go ice skating!"

Before Martha could answer her mobile started to vibrate in her pocket. She pulled it out to look at the display.

"I don't recognise the number" she said frowning. Then she accepted the call and put the mobile to her ear. "Hello?" She asked.

"Nightingale!" came a voice she easily recognized through the phone. "How are you?"

"Jack? How did you get my number?" she asked.

The Doctor looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Your sister gave it to me. I kept in contact with her after the Year," Jack explained. "Listen, I need yours and the Doctor's help. Can you come to Cardiff?"

**...**

A short time later the TARDIS landed inside the Torchwood Hub. Martha and the Doctor stepped out of the door and immediately caught sight of Jack, who was coming down the stairs from the upper level, closely followed by a young man wearing a suit and a woman with long black hair.

Jack stopped in front of them with his trademark grin on his face.

"I'm glad you could come," he said, then he turned around to his two team members. "Guys, this is the lovely Dr. Martha Jones," he said indicating Martha. "And this is the Doctor." The Doctor and Martha shook hands with the other two, who introduced themselves as Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones. Ianto regarded the Doctor with some interest and then left to get coffee for everyone. Gwen went to a nearby computer to check something.

"You're looking good, both of you!" Jack said grinning at them. "Tish told me you had got a little closer since you're travelling together again but she didn't want to tell me the details."

"And it's better that way," Martha said.

"Why did you call us here?" the Doctor asked.

"We have some trouble handling a problem." Jack explained. "There have been twenty-five deaths in the city in the last week, all of them involving theses strange energy creatures. They have come through the Rift. I've never seen a similar life-form before. We don't know how they kill or why, and we can't track them. That's why we need your help, Doctor. If anyone can find out what these creatures are, it's you. And we lost two of our team recently, one of them our medic, that's why we need Martha's help to carry out an autopsy on the bodies."

The Doctor nodded. "Show us everything you've found out about the creatures so far," he said.

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**AN: **Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it.

Please leave a review to let me know how you liked it.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: **Sorry I took so long to update. The weather was far too nice in the last weeks. But now it's raining again.

A big thank you to Persiflage for beta-reading.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Doctor Who

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**Chapter 2**

Jack pressed the arrow key on the keyboard repeatedly to show the Doctor and Martha pictures and information about twenty-five different people. Some of them were male, some female, all between the ages 16 and 78, and with very different professions.

"It started nine days ago. The police reported two deaths the first day and three the second. They didn't have a clue what killed them. Only then did we realise that there might be aliens involved," Jack explained, while showing them the victims. "They have nothing in common. The aliens seem to kill them randomly."

"But why would they do that?" Martha asked.

"I don't know. I've never seen these aliens before."

"What do you know about them?" the Doctor asked.

"They are made of gases and energy," Jack explained. "I can show you the results of our scans."

Jack opened another window and showed them some diagrams and data. Martha couldn't make anything of it. She had no knowledge of non organic creatures, but she was sure the Doctor would understand the scan results.

"Have you found out anything about how the victims were killed," she asked Jack.

"No," Jack said. "I was hoping you could find that out when you carry out the autopsy."

"When did you have the chance to make that scan?" the Doctor asked still staring at the screen.

"Oh, right. I forgot to tell you. A few days ago we were able to track one of them down with an alien energy signature scanner we've found a few years ago. The creature had just killed someone when we found it. We used another alien device to capture it. The device created a force field around it until we could put it in a glass cage."

The Doctor looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "You have one of the creatures here? Why didn't you show it to me first?"

"I thought it would be better to show you the data first. Come on," Jack said, leading the way down the stairs to the infirmary. On the metal table in the middle of this part of the hub stood a glass cube and inside was what looked like a cloud of blue gases. The Doctor stepped closer and scanned it with his sonic screwdriver.

"I've never seen nor heard of a creature like this," he finally said.

"Wow, I've never thought I'd ever hear you say that," Martha said. The Doctor grinned at her.

"Me neither," Jack said.

"Have you been able to track the other creatures?" the Doctor asked.

"They move a lot faster since we have captured one of them. That means they haven't killed as many people as they did before, but they still kill and it's a lot harder to catch them now. But we can't catch them anyway. The device we used last time doesn't have enough energy left."

"Maybe I can recharge it," the Doctor suggested.

"You can ask Gwen to show you the device while I show the lovely Dr. Jones our dead bodies," Jack said.

**...**

"So," Jack said as he leaned closer to Martha who was currently examining the body of a 38 year old man who had been killed by one of the creatures two days ago. "How close exactly are you two now?"

"Jack, I'm trying to work here."

"I'll shut up if you tell me."

Martha let out a sigh and looked up. "Exactly how much did Tish tell you?" she asked. "And I didn't know you're in contact with my sister!"

"She called me," Jack said. "She wanted to talk to someone about the Year. Your parents refused to talk about it and you were away with the Doctor. Anyway, I was surprised you were back travelling with him after the way he'd treated you, and Tish told me that you're closer now than you were before. But she refused to tell me more."

"I see," Martha said and returned to examining the body.

"So, is it likely he's going to dump me on a far away ice planet for the rest of eternity if I start flirting with you?" Jack asked with a grin.

"Maybe," she answered with a grin of her own.

"I knew it!" Jack exclaimed. "You're a cute couple."

"Thanks," Martha said a warm smile on her face. "It is so much different then it used to be. He really lets me into his life now."

"You are happy," Jack said. It was an observation, not a question.

"Yes," Martha said.

"And I've never seen the Doctor this happy. You're good for him." Martha's smile brightened.

"So," Jack began. "What's it like shagging a Time Lord?"

Martha's smile dropped. "I'm not going to answer that question," she said, turning back to her work. Jack laughed.

"Alright. I'll go and see how the Doc is doing," Jack said and made his way back to the main part of the hub.

"Jack!" Martha called when he had reached the top of the stairs. He turned back around. "Thanks for being there for my sister when she needed someone to talk to."

"My pleasure, Nightingale," Jack said.

**...**

A couple of hours later everyone met in the conference room. The Doctor had recharged the device they needed to capture the aliens and improved the energy signature scanner. It now showed the whereabouts of all the creatures. They had a unique energy signature which had been hard for the scanner to track, but since the Doctor had improved it the scanner found the creatures with ease.

Unfortunately, all the creatures changed their position constantly and with the speed they were able to move at it would be very hard to catch one of them.

"It was very difficult to find out what killed the victims," Martha explained while Ianto walked around the table to give everyone a cup of coffee or, in the Doctor's case, tea. "It's no wonder the police didn't find it. There is some nerve damage in the brains of all the victims. They are perfectly fine, apart from that."

She passed a tablet PC with the results of a brain scan she had made of one of the victims to the Doctor.

"I have never seen anything like it."

"It looks like his brain overloaded," the Doctor commented.

"That's what I thought," Martha said. "Is it possible the aliens took control over him and his brain couldn't cope with it?"

The Doctor nodded. "I have encountered energy creatures who could do that. But why would these creatures do it? What is their plan?" He pushed his hands through his hair, making it stand on end.

"We can find that out later," Gwen said. "We need to capture all the creatures before they can kill more people."

Jack got to his feet. "Gwen is right," he said. "We should go out there and stop then. Will you come with us?" he asked the Doctor and Martha.

The Doctor got to his feet, too. "Of course," he said.

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**AN: ** I hope you enjoyed it. Please let me know what you think and review.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: **Thanks to everyone who reviewed or added this to his/her favourite stories list.

I have exams in two months so I don't know if I will be able to update again before then. I will update as soon as possible.

A big thank you to Persiflage for beta-reading.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Doctor Who

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**Chapter 3**

The Torchwood team, the Doctor and Martha got out of the car near an abandoned warehouse just outside the city. The energy signature scanner had found a creature inside the warehouse. They had already tried to catch two other creatures in the last couple of hours but before they had been able to get even close to the buildings the creatures had changed their position.

"Gwen, Ianto, go to the back of the building and wait by the door. Take the force field device with you. We'll try to make the creature move in your direction and then you can catch it when it tries to flee."

He got two nods from Gwen and Ianto before his two team-mates left to get to the other side to of the building. The Doctor, Martha and Jack waited a few moments to give them time to get into position.

"Why do you think the creature will try to leave through the back entrance," Martha asked. "We don't have the device or anything else the creature would be afraid of."

"The creatures always flee when there's more than one person near them. They only kill when their victim is alone. I hope it won't see Gwen and Ianto and will fly directly into our trap," Jack explained. "Just trust me. We've done this before."

Gwen and Ianto were now out of their sight on the other side of the building. Jack waited a few seconds longer before walking towards the main entrance of the building. The Doctor and Martha followed him.

"The Doctor and I should go back to the Hub after this," Martha said. "We'll need to find a way to talk to these creatures."

The Doctor nodded. "Maybe I can communicate with them telepathically. Most energy or gas based creatures communicate like that."

"Why would you want to talk to them? They are obviously hostile," Jack said.

"Maybe we can convince them of a peaceful solution," Martha said. They were now standing in front of the entrance. "We don't know why they are doing what they are doing."

"We don't even know if they are intelligent. But it might be worth a try," Jack said, though he didn't seem to be convinced that their plan was anything more than a waste of time.

"The creature will move away from us. Stay within ten meters from each other and make sure the creature can't get past you," Jack advised before he opened the door. They all slipped inside the warehouse and the Doctor pulled the door closed behind him.

Inside the warehouse was a creature that looked exactly like the one they had seen in the glass cube inside Torchwood Hub. It was hovering in the air in the middle of the hall, unmoving, as if it had been waiting for them. The Doctor slowly walked closer with his sonic screwdriver in his hand, pointing it at the creature. Martha and Jack followed him. When they drew closer to the creature it slowly hovered higher into the air.

"It's not exactly fleeing from us," the Doctor commented while looking at Jack with a raised eyebrow.

Jack walked past the Doctor until he stood directly under the creature. "It's not moving. Maybe it's injured or something,"

In that moment, when Jack looked towards the Doctor and Martha and away from the creature, it started to move fast. It flew directly towards Jack. The Doctor quickly reached out and gripped Jack's arm to pull him away, but the creature only flew past them with incredible speed and stopped near the entrance they'd come though, hovering in mid air again just like before.

"This one's not behaving like the others," Jack commented.

Martha walked towards the creature and it shot past her to hover behind her in the air. It stayed as far away from the other side of the hall as possible. She tried again to get near the creature, but it reacted in the same way as before. "It's like it's playing with us," Martha murmured. Then she turned back to the two men. "Maybe it knows what we are trying to do."

Jack walked towards the creature again, but it only moved past him like before. "Okay, let's try this differently." He activated his headset. "Gwen, Ianto, come inside now."

The two Torchwood team members opened the door on the other side of the hall and closed it behind them before running towards their friends.

"What's going on," Gwen asked.

"The creature keeps moving past us, but keeps its position when we don't move. We'll have to try and catch it in here."

**...**

They made a few tries to circle the creature in and catch it with the force field generator, but the creature always got away. It moved too fast for them to get even close to it now. They soon had to accept that they were not going to catch any more creatures this way, at least not this one.

"We need a new plan," Gwen said.

"We still have the creature in the Hub," Jack said. "The Doctor wanted to try to communicate with it. And we might think of something else."

"Hopefully before anyone else dies," Ianto commented.

"Can't you try to talk with this one?" Gwen asked the Doctor.

"It won't be able to use or understand verbal language," the Doctor explained. "I might be able to talk to it telepathically, but I need to be near the creature. It will be much easier with the caged one in the Hub."

As they left the warehouse, the creature was again hovering in the middle of the room like it had been when they'd arrived.

**...**

A short time later, the Torchwood team plus the Doctor and Martha entered the tourist information office that housed the secret entrance to the Torchwood Hub. The moment they went inside they noticed that something was wrong; the door that looked like a wall which led to the Hub was open.

"I thought no one but us could open that door," Jack said, pulling out his gun.

"I thought so, too," Ianto replied. They carefully walked towards the door.

"No guns, Jack," the Doctor said. He walked past them while pulling out his sonic screwdriver to scan the door. After a quick scan he pocketed it again and walked into the Hub.

They soon noticed that the computer system was offline. All the doors that led to the main room were open.

"Who could have done this?" Gwen asked.

"I have a feeling I know who it might have been," the Doctor replied. He ran towards the infirmary and stopped to look at pieces of glass that were scattered all over the floor.

"What is this?" asked Martha, who'd followed him into the infirmary.

"The glass cube," the Doctor explained. "The creature is gone."

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**AN:** Please let me know what you think and review.


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